May 2 & 3: #189: Menu for the Future - Bringing Farmers to the Table

What happens if you create 25 small groups to discuss food values and issues, and include a local farmer or food producer in each one? Innovative organizers Judy Alexander, Dick Bergeron and Peter Bates facilitated the "Menu for the Future" groups to support local farmers and educate eaters. Results? Eaters changed their food choices, and the market for local food products expanded. Winners all around! http://www.nwei.org

May 9 & 10: #190: Reclaiming Childbirth

Why does industrial culture consider this natural event a medical problem? People in the radical birth movement want to broaden the conversation about options for families giving birth. Squat Birth Journal co-editors Jaydee Sperry, Meghan Guthrie, and Danny Scar want families to know they can choose birth processes in which they develop ongoing relationships with midwives and doulas. They also discuss medical costs, safety, health insurance, legal hurdles, and educational challenges. squatbirthjournal.blogspot.com

May 16 & 17: #191: The Vegetarian Myth

What we eat is destroying both our bodies and the planet, according to author Lierre Keith, a recovering twenty-year vegan. While she passionately opposes factory farming of animals, she maintains that humans require nutrient-dense animal foods for good health. A grain-based diet is the basis for degenerative diseases we take for granted (diabetes, cancer, heart disease) - diseases of civilization. Annual grain production is destroying topsoil and creating deserts on a planetary scale. Lierre urges the restoration of perennial polycultures for longterm sustainability. http://lierrekeith.com

May 23 & 24: #192: Managing the 21st Century's Sustainability Crises

"There are no real solutions, there are only responses." So say the expert contributors in The Post Carbon Reader, pointing to society's complex, interdependent systems squeezed by growing demand and declining resources. Co-editor Daniel Lerch tells us renewable energy will never be able to replace fossil fuels. Thus resilience - the capacity of a system to withstand disturbance while retaining its fundamental integrity - needs to replace sustainability as a guide to action. http://www.postcarbon.org/reader

May 30 & 31: #155 Peak Oil - Adapting for Big Changes Ahead

With a long-time eye to declining energy resources, Bart Anderson envisions a very different society in five years. The former editor of Energy Bulletin.net offers advice for post-oil living: Understand the problem. Prepare psychologically for big shifts and the unexpected. Find your niche and get good at it. See what your great grandparents did as a model for living well within limits. "Live poor and learn to do it well" as Bart did as a graduate student. Things will be very different, he said, but we'll make it through. www.energybulletin.net

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